What is cultural heritage? What does it mean to belong to a certain culture? The exhibition project Empirical Survey on a Heritage is working on possible answers towards these questions. The main object of investigation is the Sardinian culture and the works of four artists maintaining a very complex and different relation with Sardinia and its heritage. Alessandro Sau and Cristina Meloni were born and raised in Sardinia. In 2012 they got selected for the three-month residency, established by Berlin-island programme in collaboration with Culturia.

Rugiada Cadonifrom y Liver and Igor Muronirepresent artists with Sardinian migration background. Their families´ origins are in Sardinia, but both of them were born elsewhere and never lived in the country of their parents. However they feel connected with Sardinian habits and customs through the tradition that was passed on in their families. Is it possible that common roots leave a track that goes beyond the geography, beyond the genetics? In the case of Sardinia, there has been a strong motivation of distinction from the culture of the Italian mainland. The cultural heritage of Sardinia, consisting in physical artefacts such as a typical architecture and tangible culture such as folklore, Sardinian language and natural heritage is therefore an important element in this artistic research.Empirical Survey on a Heritage is the second and concluding part of Berlin- island programme, a trilogy of projects about Sardinian culture. This trilogy started in 2010 with the residence- and exhibition- project Genau, Sardinia! and continued in 2011 with Holiday Island.
The implementation of the concept has been made possible by the Sardisches Kulturzentrum Berlin (center for Sardinian Culture).